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April Fools’ 2017: Here’s the best and worst of this year’s pranks (so far)

April Fools’ Day falls on a Saturday this year. Seemingly worried that the internet goes away on weekends, a bunch of companies rolled out their April Fools’ jokes a few days early.

Some of them are really, really good. Some of them… are not.

Here’s our round-up of the ones worth a laugh, chuckle or, at the very least, a mildly amused puff of air through your nose.

We’ll update this gallery throughout the weekend, as more are bound to roll out on… you know, actual April Fools’ Day. Click that right arrow key to peruse the gallery, or just scroll if you’re on mobile.

1/23

Zappos' anti-theft box

Who hasn’t had a box stolen from their porch? Zappos’ solution: invisible boxes. Just make sure you remember to pick it up eventually.

2/23

ThinkGeek's brilliant April product lineup..

Each year, ThinkGeek rolls out a handful of faux products on April 1st — and each year, they’re amongst the best gags.

This year’s products include: a “Where’s Barb” version of Wheres Waldo that has people searching the upside down for Stranger Things’ most quickly-forgotten character…

3/23

A swear jar…

that swears at you for not saving.

4/23

A tentacle wrap…

because those knit “mermaid wraps” could use a few more limbs…

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5/23

A swimming desk….

because standing desks are lazy

6/23

and Shazam, starring Sinbad.

This one hits hard. It’s a long story, but a big chunk of the Internet seems to remember a movie starring Sinbad as a genie that has somehow been erased from the face of the planet. Really, it’s a thing (and I totally remember it. I think. Maybe?)

7/23

Google's PacMaps

Google Maps (and Google as a whole) tends to go all out with its April Fools’ jokes — but (as of the morning of March 31st) they’re either cutting things back this year or saving the goods for actual April 1st.

This year’s prank is a rehash of one from 2015, turning the Google Maps iOS/Android apps into a playable build of PacMan with the press of a button. It’s Ms. PacMan this year instead of Mr. — but it’s the same overall idea.

8/23

Google Gnome

Update: Bam! Looks like some more of Google’s gags are rolling out.

Google Home is a nifty little voice assistant for inside the home… but what about outside? Meet Google Gnome.

Alas, I know a bunch of people who would actually buy this. I might be one of them.

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9/23

Google Japan's Bubble Wrap Keyboard

Google Japan always gets suuuper whacky with their gags, and this year’s is no different.

You probably type for work. Working is stressful. Know what releases stress? Popping bubble wrap. Google Japan has turned bubble-wrap popping into a typing method. It probably takes a million hours to type a few sentences, but damn is it satisfying.

10/23

AuntieAnne's changes its logo to try to connect with millennials

In an effort to connect with today’s kids and their filters and their instaglams and their snapcharts, AuntieAnne is ditching the halo from their logo in favor of the flower crown found in every music festival selfie taken in the past two years.

11/23

OnlineLabels.com' totally practical label delivery service

All the cool kids are delivering things by drone now (or at least saying they TOTALLY WILL at some point in the future maybe).

But why use one big drone to deliver a package when you can use multiple small drones instead? More drones = more good, right?

12/23

Trulia's Pet Listings

Between landlords that don’t like cat hair everywhere and neighbors that don’t want to hear your dogs barking anymore, your pets pretty much determine where you live anyway. Why not just let them pick?

Lyft's Car Hailing Wearable

Lyft went all out this year — arguably a bit too far — with a ride-hailing wearable. Modeled after the classic hitchhiker’s thumb, the wearer simply lifts their glove-donned hand and bam — a ride will arrive.

Between rolling out the promos two days early, getting model Bella Hadid to rock it and actually building a few of them, more than a few folks were left unsure if it was real. But that’s kind of the point, right?

14/23

Duolingo's Emoji Course

Do you find yourself in chat thread after chat thread of wall to wall emojis, confused as to what the hell anyone is saying? Is 100 a good thing? Are those hands clapping or praying or both? Why is that smiley face upside down?

iFixit's Itty Bitty Toolkit

The devices we love keep getting smaller and smaller, and yet the tools we use to fix them remain the same size. What, you expect me to fix that new ultra-thin iPad with a normal sized screwdriver that makes me feel like a giant? Pfft.

iFixit’s micro toolkit is the fix.

16/23

Amazon's Petlexa

Your dog barks. What does he want? Food? To go outside? To go outside and eat food? Who the hell knows, dogs bark about everything.

Petlexa — Amazon’s pet-centric reboot of Alexa — knows.

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17/23

Honda's Horn Emoji

People use their car’s horn for everything; why not tie those sounds to emoji and make them a bit more expressive?

(The most important thing is seemingly left out: What would the middle finger emoji sound like?)

18/23

T-Mobile's ONEsie

In light of its new unlimited “T-Mobile ONE” plan, T-Mo has shipped an “ultra smart” wearable: the T-Mobile ONEsie. From the built-in headphones to its full-body fitness tracking, there’s little it can’t do.

T-Mobile is actually making and shipping a limited number of these — alas, the ones that are shipping out seem to be early prototypes that lack most (read: all) of the high-tech features. (In other words, they’re just bright pink onesies.)

19/23

Man Crate's Man Freights

Despite the sometimes confusing name, Man Crates does not, in fact, ship you a man in a crate. Until now.

Man Freights allows you to ship your friends the best gift of all: you. Don’t worry, it has Wi-Fi! Also air holes.

20/23

Netflix Live

Most cord cutters have just one complaint: watching live events can be tough.

With this in mind, Netflix launched “Netflix Live” — a pilot program that features Will Arnett watching various live streams and talking about… stuff. It’s basically just him talking about whatever he’s looking at in full stream-of-consciousness mode, and… well, it’s pretty damned funny. You can find it here.

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21/23

Snapchat burns Instagram

Instagram totally copied Snapchat’s Stories feature, so Snapchat copied Instagram’s interface and turned it into a filter. Snap a photo in Snapchat and then swipe to the left about 10 times — Instagram’s interface should slide right into place.

22/23

Elon Musk's Chemtrail announcement

For decades, conspiracy theorists have suggested that “chemtrails” (their name for contrails the trails left by planes flying at high altitude) are actually biological agents.

Tesla/SpaceX CEO Elon Musk took the opportunity to suggest that something a bit more alien is going on.

23/23

Hulu's Hu

There’s too much good TV nowadays. Who has time for it all?

Hulu’s Hu takes your favorite shows and cuts them down from 30 minutes to ~15 seconds. Now you’ll know wtf people are talking about around the watercooler, but can spend your time doing something productive.